The History Network

By The History NetworkSociety & Culture History

The History Network episodes

January 06, 2013 1402 The Battle of Carrhae
A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.
32 min
December 23, 2012 1401 The Battle of Poltava
The origins of the Great Northern War can be traced back to the Swedish involvement in the Thirty Years War and later in the the First Northern War of 1655-60 between Sweden and Poland. Outcomes of these conflicts made the Baltic Sweden's "internal sea". This antagonised Sweden's neighbours. Russian interests were greatly affected as the access to the Baltic Sea and its trade routes were now under threat from the Swedish Navy. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3
19 min
November 16, 2012 SPECIAL Tony Iveson DFC
Tony Iveson learnt to fly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Flying the famous Spitfire throughout the Battle of Britain he survived a ditching in the sea after he ran out of fuel chasing a Junkers JU88.

After a spell as an instructor at the training school in Rhodesia he converted to bombers, flying that other great plane of the war the Avro Lancaster.

Joining 617 Squadron "the Dam Busters, as a flight Lieutenant, he took part in some 27 missions, including the sinking of the German pocket battleship the Tirpitz, and in the process winning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After the war Tony became the Chairman of the Bomber Command Association and at the age of 89, the oldest man to fly a Lancaster Bomber.

This presentation was recorded at Northallerton Wartime Weekend where Tony Iveson gave two talks covering the Bomber Offensive and the Tirpitz Raid.

To find details about the two talks please visit our website www.thehistorynetwork.org
14 min
November 16, 2012 SPECIAL Tony Iveson DFC
A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.
14 min
October 19, 2012 Greek warfare in the Archaic age
Jasper and the team are joined by Josho Brouwers to discus warfare in archaic Greece. After Michael's summary of the period we go on to look at the phalanx, how it might function, the equipment the men carried, the suitability of the geography for this type of fighting and what that meant for the numbers of men deployed in the field.

Also touched upon is why the cities fought one another, was it just drunken Greeks tooled up and spoiling for a fight to assert their manliness?

Dur:48min

49 min
July 13, 2012 The Roman Conquest of Spain
Jasper and the team discuss Ancient Warfare I.4, The Roman Conquest of Spain. It took over 200 years for Rome to pacify Spain, why did it take them so long? Did local fragmentation politically make it difficult for an all out victory that was so often achieved in the East? We look at issues of leadership in the Roman army, and recruitment. Was Spain Rome's Vietnam? Dur: 41min
42 min
April 27, 2012 Elite Units of the Hellenistic Era
Jasper, Murray and Lindsay are joined by Michael Park to look at Elite units of the Hellenistic Era, the discussion revolves round what is elite and how do you define elite, which proved more troublesome that one may expect. Dont forget if you want more information on the magazine you can find their website at www.ancient-warfare.com Dur: 51min File: MP3
52 min
April 13, 2012 Securing Seas and Shores: Fleets of the Roman empire
In the usual wide ranging discussion Jasper, Michael, Lindsay and special guest Jesse Obert look at the Roman Navy. Questioning the received view of the fleets being used in anti piracy duties, and were the fleets even standing forces or more of an adhoc thing brought together when needs must?

And the fleets what kind of shipping did they comprise of, and how did they make war?
53 min
March 09, 2012 The Assyrian Army At War
In this episode we look at the Assyrians, 930BC to 630BC, their empire stretched from Egypt to Babylon, it was the first great iron age empire with resources to fund a standing army equipped with iron weapons. They excelled at siege warfare, something very difficult to successfully achieve in the ancient world. We delve into all these aspects plus look at the putting down of internal descent, propaganda, chariots and the use of specialised infantry.
Jasper, Lindsay and Michael are joined by Mark Schwartz.
Dur: 43min
42 min
February 10, 2012 Rome's wars with the Sassanids
The Sassanid Empire would prove to be the last of the Persian middle-eastern empires, and would also be the last great ‘civilised’ rival of Rome. The Great Achaemenid Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great, had displaced the Babylonians in the Middle-East. Ultimately, it sprawled from the Mediterranean to northern India. This empire, the largest in the world, had been overthrown by the meteoric career of a western ‘barbarian’ named Alexander of Macedon, but he did not survive to consolidate his conquest and it quickly split up with various parts being ruled by Alexander’s successors, who warred among one another with none succeeding in re-uniting the former Achaemenid Empire.

With Ian Hughes joining the regulars, they discuss the problem of gaps in the historical evidence that have to be negotiated when looking at the period, and the long lasting conflict with Rome.

Dur: 48min
49 min